One-sentence summary
Comparing China Unicom's Yuanjing Thinking Chain, DeepSeek and GLM: Yuanjing is the first open-source general thinking-chain LLM from a central SOE, while DeepSeek and GLM already have broad developer and hardware-adoption ecosystems.
The Models
On November 1, 2026, China Unicom fully open-sourced the Yuanjing Thinking Chain model, the first open-source general thinking-chain LLM from a central SOE, contrasting with established open models DeepSeek and GLM.
Core Comparison
| Dimension | Yuanjing Thinking Chain | DeepSeek | GLM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backer | Unicom DigitalTech | DeepSeek | Zhipu |
| Open-source status | First by a central SOE | Widely used open model | Multi-gen, Day-0 chip support |
| Platforms | GitHub, ModelScope, etc. | Multi-platform | Hugging Face, etc. |
| Positioning | General thinking chain | General open source | General multimodal open source |
Key Differences
Yuanjing adds central-SOE backing to general thinking-chain supply; DeepSeek and GLM have built large developer and domestic-chip ecosystems, so newcomers must compete on cost and tooling.